Bulgaria coach Plamen Markov attempted to put a brave face on a Euro 2004 campaign that brought defeat in all three group games.

The 46-year-old Markov said: "We have gained experience from this.

"Look at how experience helps as illustrated by the way Daniel Borimirov played at right-back which is not his normal spot.

"As for my future, I will await what the federation propose," said Markov who has held the post since 2002.

"I think my team played a very good game considering we were missing many
valuable players.

"I believe we could have won, we did have many possibilities to score but we
were unable to do so."

"We are disappointed with our performance in Portugal but we also have to
consider that many of our players are inexperienced and with the exception of
three or four who play in big clubs, the rest play in less well-known leagues,"
added Markov.

"Our only real problem in this competition has been that the standard of the
teams in Group C has been superior to ours."